In the business of video games, intellectual property protection is critical to success, and Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks are the bricks with which your IP portfolio is built. The Patent Arcade is the web's primary resource for video game IP law, news, cases, and commentary.

WIRED has an interesting article regarding Microsoft's inclusion of badges as rewards for developers in Visual Studio. As developers write code, an Achievements extension grants badges in much the same way a video game does. Badges are associated with certain accomplishments — both good and bad — and many of the good badges also come with points. The hope is that these virtual rewards will spark competition, and that competition will improve the quality of the work. Read more at WIRED.com.

Sorry we've been silent for a while. Our "real jobs" has been keeping us away. In any event, an occurrence on Christmas Day reminded me of the progress that video games have made in the last 30 years. We can now injure ourselves running and jumping while playing video games just like we can running and jumping outside. I was playing Kinect Sports with my niece and my brother says to me "careful, I pulled a calf the first time I played." My brother is older than me, so surely I will be fine, I though. Well as I landed from jumping over the last hurdle... pop! I TORE my calf muscle. Yes... ouch! Lesson learned. But this did remind me that video games have become much more sophisticated, developed, and viable for use in teaching real-life situations. I love my job.